Sheffield Utd verdict

[lets all have a disco]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1761787232568906159

 

[North West Wanderer]

I respect that you feel that way, but this is elite sport and the reason the player was down does matter!

He faked injury! Why reward that!

So if a guy is down because he had a boot fall off we should kick the ball out and stop?

i think you’re missing the point.

We didn’t kick the ball out, their keeper did, as the player had cramp.

He didn’t hit it hard enough but clearly signalled what he was trying to do.

Why the player was down is irrelevant as we didn’t have the ball at that time. It was there’s to put out.

 

[wulfie88]

 

[wolfslair]

i think you’re missing the point.

We didn’t kick the ball out, their keeper did, as the player had cramp.

He didn’t hit it hard enough but clearly signalled what he was trying to do.

Why the player was down is irrelevant as we didn’t have the ball at that time. It was there’s to put out.

I actually doubt he even had cramp……

I don’t blame the keeper for wanting to put it out, my issue is the player on the pitch faking injury, then turned it into cramp to avoid a sanction for simulation…..

We stopped playing is my issue, sorry but if you aren’t injured you don’t stop play!!!

Players do it when losing or in games against better sides to get the game reset and back in formation with less risk of being caught out.

It is calculated cheating.

The reason to go down is what matters!! You stop for cramp you open the floodgates!!

 

[S G Wolves]

I think the second half performance was on O’Neil and whilst he’s taken responsibility for how bad it was, it arguably worked.

The first half they had two one-on-ones, albeit down the side of the goal through Brewster and McAtee.

It was the main way they looked like scoring, by countering and getting down the sides.

So second half we completely shut that off. We weren’t adventurous, we didn’t really press. We just made sure they were not getting Brewster/McAtee running at our defenders isolated.

And despite their increased control, they didn’t create much clear cut.

Tick it off and move on to Wednesday.

I thought their main threat was the long throws.

Caused a bit of panic. Crap really.

 

[North West Wanderer]

I actually doubt he even had cramp……

I don’t blame the keeper for wanting to put it out, my issue is the player on the pitch faking injury, then turned it into cramp to avoid a sanction for simulation…..

We stopped playing is my issue, sorry but if you aren’t injured you don’t stop play!!!

Players do it when losing or in games against better sides to get the game reset and back in formation with less risk of being caught out.

It is calculated cheating.

The reason to go down is what matters!! You stop for cramp you open the floodgates!!

bit the issue wasn’t to do with the player going down, it was the keeper not kicking it hard enough when clearly putting the ball out?

 

[Sketchead]

There were times in the first half I was thinking blimey, I love how we play football these days. Still a bit open at the back though to the ball over the top.

Second half was woeful, but a win is a win.

Rhian Brewster would be a top 10 striker minimum if he hadn't had such awful luck with injuries over the past few years. Great talent.

 

[wolfslair]

bit the issue wasn’t to do with the player going down, it was the keeper not kicking it hard enough when clearly putting the ball out?

It is to do with the player doing down….. why did he want to put the ball out??? As no player puts the ball out for no reason…..

So the player going down and faking injury is the sole and central thing here! He wasn’t injured so the game didn’t need to be stoppped! The keeper wasn’t putting it out for fun was he?

They tried to game the system, ****ed up in doing it and we should have punished them for trying to cheat!

But he didn’t put it out, that’s on him…. Play on!

 

[Scallywolf]

Well stap my vitals, with the exception of the usual suspects,a mainly balanced verdict thread. Happy with the three points, overjoyed about 8th, but a poor performance.
Better than losing isn't it?

Good job it wasn't our 7th or 8th game of the season. The doom merchants and 'GON out brigade' would have had a field day.

A great 3 points imo and we march on.

 

[SA Wolf]

The argument about Sarabia putting the ball out is one that is easily resolved imo. Play to the whistle. If the ref thinks the game should be stopped because of injury, he would blow and then restart with an uncontested drop-ball. Yesterday, he didn't, possibly reasoning as did most of us, that Souza's 'injury' was insignificant or trying-it-on to get the match stopped.
Sarabia, by kicking the ball out, took a decision that shouldn't have been his to take. As it happened, it didn't impact the result, but what if it had! What if Sheffield had equalised and we lost 2 points!
It's hammered in to every player from the age of 5 - play to the ****ing whistle.

 

[North West Wanderer]

It is to do with the player doing down….. why did he want to put the ball out??? As no player puts the ball out for no reason…..

So the player going down and faking injury is the sole and central thing here! He wasn’t injured so the game didn’t need to be stoppped! The keeper wasn’t putting it out for fun was he?

They tried to game the system, ****ed up in doing it and we should have punished them for trying to cheat!

But he didn’t put it out, that’s on him…. Play on!

he put the ball out as his player was down…. am i missing something here?

 

[Contrarian]

People are forgetting Newcastle got PRAISED and SUPPORTED for scoring while Sa was down against us with a legit injury for playing to the whistle……

We would have been fine if we had done the correct thing and played on

Newcastle are media darlings, though. Always have been. There's always one rule for some and one rule for the rest. If we'd done it yesterday, the medai would be demanding the match gets replayed!

 

[wolfslair]

he put the ball out as his player was down…. am i missing something here?

A player who was faking injury…….

It was done to allow them to reset and repack the defensive third with no risk of being caught out themselves.

It is part of the “dark arts” to break up the game and slow it down.

So yes….. you are missing something mate.

 

[wolfslair]

Newcastle are media darlings, though. Always have been. There's always one rule for some and one rule for the rest. If we'd done it yesterday, the medai would be demanding the match gets replayed!

I severely doubt it, people love GON and when the player was able to play on like nothing happened like he did, as I strongly believe he faked even having cramp people would have sided with us!

The guy was faking cramp, it is obvious! If he has cramp in a game at the stage and at that pace he has MAJOR conditioning issues……

 

[wolfslair]

Good job it wasn't our 7th or 8th game of the season. The doom merchants and 'GON out brigade' would have had a field day.

A great 3 points imo and we march on.

I was in that group and I can tell you 100% I wouldn’t have done.

Sheffield United came to kick and foul us and fake cramp multiple times to slow it down.

We played really well first half and they ramped up the ****housery second half…. Aided by a shot ref.

Professional performance with no injuries or suspension born out of frustration of a crap ref…..

Well done all

 

[Scallywolf]

It is to do with the player doing down….. why did he want to put the ball out??? As no player puts the ball out for no reason…..

So the player going down and faking injury is the sole and central thing here! He wasn’t injured so the game didn’t need to be stoppped! The keeper wasn’t putting it out for fun was he?

They tried to game the system, ****ed up in doing it and we should have punished them for trying to cheat!

But he didn’t put it out, that’s on him…. Play on!

It would have been a bit of payback karma for the ridiculous penalty decision at their place earlier this season if we had scored, wouldn't it!

Having said that, I do think it was a proper good thing to do by Sarabia and shows we aren't a team with a **** attitude.

 

[wolfslair]

It would have been a bit of payback karma for the ridiculous penalty decision at their place earlier this season if we had scored, wouldn't it!

Having said that, I do think it was a proper good thing to do by Sarabia and shows we aren't a team with a **** attitude.

If he was injured I would 100% agree with everyone that it was the right thing.

But people are defending an act of cheating and gamesmanship by a team that already happily robbed us of a point by play acting earlier in the season…..

 

[Himleywolf]

We are not that desperate, surely?

He has been totally useless since they bought him for big money 3 years ago.

Yes you're right he's not been good since they signed him but he was in the England U17 team with Gibbs White and with Liverpool as a kid so he must have something.
I'm only basing it on what I saw yesterday where he looked decent.

 

[North West Wanderer]

A player who was faking injury…….

It was done to allow them to reset and repack the defensive third with no risk of being caught out themselves.

It is part of the “dark arts” to break up the game and slow it down.

So yes….. you are missing something mate.

he had cramp, clearly.

The ball wasn’t dangerous for us they had it. they chose to play it out.

i respectfully conclude that you’re perhaps the one who is missing something.

 

[Scallywolf]

If he was injured I would 100% agree with everyone that it was the right thing.

But people are defending an act of cheating and gamesmanship by a team that already happily robbed us of a point by play acting earlier in the season…..

At least they gave us the ball back from their throw in!

 

[wolfslair]

At least they gave us the ball back from their throw in!

The least they could do……

After gaming the system to get everyone back behind the ball from their rigid formation

Lol

 

[wolfslair]

he had cramp, clearly.

The ball wasn’t dangerous for us they had it. they chose to play it out.

i respectfully conclude that you’re perhaps the one who is missing something.

Mate, I suspect he didn’t even have cramp! He was running far too quickly and freely after treatment for it to actually have been cramp.

If you fake injury to stop the game, you can get sanctioned…… but no ref is brave enough to sanction “cramp” as it is so hard to disprove it.

It was done to let them get set back up with no risk of losing the ball and getting caught short presenting an opportunity.

It is drilled into teams to do it against better teams to slow it down and help them further. I am sorry to let you behind the curtain and expose you to the cheating aspect of football that to the man on the street isn’t anything more than cramp to them, but to the ex pros and those with exposure to a decent level of sport know exactly what he was doing it is called gamesmanship and dark arts for a reason.

We do it!!! And I bloody hate it!!

A few of them went down with “cramp” it was a tactic to break the pace of the game down and allow them to reset.

Cramp is used to get the game stopped and allow free and no pressured reset in formation and that is exactly what they did!

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Blimey. If spurning two one-on-ones, having a shot blocked on the line, nearly forcing an OG out of Semedo, and forcing Sa into multiple saves, is "barely laying a glove" on us, I'd hate to see what "giving us a game" looks like! On the balance of 90 minutes, they did enough to merit a result. It boiled down to one side who have developed the happy knack of winning matches, against another for whom losing has become a fatal habit.

If they pushed a few people further forward, then it isn't an own goal by Semedo its one of their guys with a tap in. Teams should create chances. The fact we didn't was first down to complacency then fear.
Their xG was 0.5. Sa's saves were routine rather than any top corner finger tip stuff. They didn't push enough people forward to score, and judged on their performances all season, will continue to do the same. Maybe if they did we might have had a counter or two.
All in all an absolutely atrocious game of football against one of the worst sides to ever grace the division. Two teams that didn't attack in any great numbers and sod all notable chances as a result.

 

[Goldfinger]

We 100% need to figure out how to deal with teams like this at home. It's all well and good saying they'll come to park the bus, but it takes a lot of energy to grind out a result like that and it's unsustainable. There are a few games like this coming up and I want to see us blowing these weaker sides away. We need to be faster out of the blocks and look to be going in at half time comfortably ahead in as many of these games as possible.

 

[Ned]

I'm more happy with the win than I was yesterday. I know they spurned a couple of good chances in the first half but if you think about it logically it was a ball in behind and down the side that did us... We are clearly a team in transition and a team who is learning to adapt to different games. We tried something different and braver in the first half yesterday and, for me, it worked on the whole but it just left the back door open too much. We will adapt from the first half and see a developed version the next time we play one of these games, I also don't think we would have been so brave (for us) against any other team in the league - trial and error but at least we aren't banging our heads against a brick wall wondering why we haven't tried anything different.

 

[SA Wolf]

I'm more happy with the win than I was yesterday. I know they spurned a couple of good chances in the first half but if you think about it logically it was a ball in behind and down the side that did us... We are clearly a team in transition and a team who is learning to adapt to different games. We tried something different and braver in the first half yesterday and, for me, it worked on the whole but it just left the back door open too much. We will adapt from the first half and see a developed version the next time we play one of these games, I also don't think we would have been so brave (for us) against any other team in the league - trial and error but at least we aren't banging our heads against a brick wall wondering why we haven't tried anything different.

I certainly take your point about trying something different and what we did worked on the whole in the first half; although we were wasteful in the final third. What I didn't understand was the complete change of attitude, energy and application in the second. What we had been doing was working to an extent and had we continued in the same vein, we may well have scored more and be a happier bunch this morning.
Did GON tell them at HT that the game was won and all we needed to do was see it out? Dangerous if he did. Did he tell them that they should continue as they had in the first half, but the players didn't have the energy? Small squad etc... but doesn't bode well for the run-in. Or did GON and the players not adapt to a change in attitude and style by Sheff?
Not sure what the answer was, but I accept that we should try different things, but the two halves yesterday were like chalk and cheese and this is not the first time it's happened this season.
As you say, though, the win is the most important thing.

 

[Bostin]

Mate, I suspect he didn’t even have cramp! He was running far too quickly and freely after treatment for it to actually have been cramp.

If you fake injury to stop the game, you can get sanctioned…… but no ref is brave enough to sanction “cramp” as it is so hard to disprove it.

It was done to let them get set back up with no risk of losing the ball and getting caught short presenting an opportunity.

It is drilled into teams to do it against better teams to slow it down and help them further. I am sorry to let you behind the curtain and expose you to the cheating aspect of football that to the man on the street isn’t anything more than cramp to them, but to the ex pros and those with exposure to a decent level of sport know exactly what he was doing it is called gamesmanship and dark arts for a reason.

We do it!!! And I bloody hate it!!

A few of them went down with “cramp” it was a tactic to break the pace of the game down and allow them to reset.

Cramp is used to get the game stopped and allow free and no pressured reset in formation and that is exactly what they did!

Mate let it go, nobody is agreeing with you lol

 

[wolfslair]

Mate let it go, nobody is agreeing with you lol

Clearly not read the thread then…. As a few have, plus posts have likes….

So not sure your being quite accurate mate

 

[Mutchy]

Sarabia's moment of sportsmanship

There was a moment of good sportsmanship from Wolves Pablo Sarabia as he ushered the ball out after a mistake from Grbic.

www.skysports.com

Looks like he genuinely landed awkwardly, triggering a reaction.

 

[5150]

Thought we played well in the first half. As above mentioned, I was saying " we play some lovely stuff"
2nd half, personally thought it was an exercise in energy conservation. Unfortunately it turned into lethargic apathy and we were shocking.

As for the PS incident... fair play to him. However, if the keeper had attempted to clear the ball upfield ,mis hit it and it fell to Sarabia, he would have gone on and scored.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Sarabia's moment of sportsmanship

There was a moment of good sportsmanship from Wolves Pablo Sarabia as he ushered the ball out after a mistake from Grbic.

www.skysports.com

Looks like he genuinely landed awkwardly, triggering a reaction.

Think it's really poor sportsmanship from Sheffield united, they have plenty of time to kick it out straight away, it's only when they are in the **** they kick it out.

 

[wolfslair]

Sarabia's moment of sportsmanship

There was a moment of good sportsmanship from Wolves Pablo Sarabia as he ushered the ball out after a mistake from Grbic.

www.skysports.com

Looks like he genuinely landed awkwardly, triggering a reaction.

Happy to be proven wrong.

Take it back…. I watched the game it showed a previous incident with Dawson.

 

[Andywolf74]

I feel yesterday's game highlighted why we could do with a new centre forward. First half when we were more on the front foot, attacks broke down because we were so short of bodies in the opposition box. Second half, a centre forward who could hold the ball up would have got us further up the pitch and given the defence a breather.
Unfortunately, the ship has sailed but Gyorkes would be ideal imo.

 

[Mutchy]

Happy to be proven wrong.

Take it back…. I watched the game it showed a previous incident with Dawson.

I think its @North West Wanderer you want to speak to.

 

[wolfslair]

I think its @North West Wanderer you want to speak to.

@North West Wanderer sorry mate, I made a mistake…..

The way I saw the game showed an incident with Dawson in the box when the break in play happened….

 

[North West Wanderer]

@North West Wanderer sorry mate, I made a mistake…..

The way I saw the game showed an incident with Dawson in the box when the break in play happened….

No apology needed buddy, all good.

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

Got to say they were one of the worst sides I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately 2nd half we decided to take the team out of gear and see how long we could coast in neutral - 45 minutes as it happens.

Their free kick just outside our box in the 2nd half will live with me as one of the most incompetent pieces of football I think I’ve ever seen - even on a Park pitch on a Su day. How a professional footballer takes a free kick from the edge of the box and manages to float it to the opposite side of the pitch with so little power that it doesn’t go out of play and not within 20 metres of any of your own players is beyond me.

 

[wolfgar]

Got to say they were one of the worst sides I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately 2nd half we decided to take the team out of gear and see how long we could coast in neutral - 45 minutes as it happens.

Their free kick just outside our box in the 2nd half will live with me as one of the most incompetent pieces of football I think I’ve ever seen - even on a Park pitch on a Su day. How a professional footballer takes a free kick from the edge of the box and manages to float it to the opposite side of the pitch with so little power that it doesn’t go out of play and not within 20 metres of any of your own players is beyond me.

I could have taken a better free kick in a pair of flip flops after 4/5 pints

 

[Plovdiv Wolf]

I could have taken a better free kick in a pair of flip flops after 4/5 pints

I laugh so much, you can feel nerves from Wolves crowd later in game

 

[GoldenHorseshoe]

Personally, I was more relieved than elated with the 1-0 yesterday. Had we won 2-0 with a goal scored from that situation I'd have felt somewhat embarrassed.

Me too, and I am pleased that we have Pablo in our team displaying skill and sportsmanship in equal measure.